Santa Came!

Honestly I wasn't sure if he would find us. We traveled so much before Christmas I was worried it would confuse him, and Part of our family is in AZ and another one is in El Salvador. That could really mess up those reindeer and their tracking skills. 

But he came through the Jolly Ol' elf found us and brought along a wonderful heart warming Christmas!

Gifts from Mema and Grandpa Ed were a big hit.
 We are so thankful for family far away that makes us feel closer on special days! 

Traditional Christmas eve gifts (Seth made Dad some P.j's)

Dan loved the Italian leather gloves I got them, he wore them with his P.J's all day!

 

Sweet story:

Dan and I got each other the same gift. We had been talking about how someday when we have grandkids we would like to have a tree with a train around it and I guess we both had the same idea about which train it should be!

Non- traditional treats since we are in a new country (natella pastry tree)

We went to Church in the morning and thats a lot more fun when you do not have babies at home. It was a beautiful service with such inspiring music and such a wonderful feel of the real reason for the season. Although these big kids did try to peak in the windows before church to spy and see if Santa came, but as I mentioned before, we all had our doubts!

Coming home and getting on our jimmies and gathering our blankets to head down the stairs to the un known was pretty fun and of course exciting to see the presents and the happy faces!

Gaming equioment

Tip: get a short tree, it makes the stack of presents look bigger! 

It also makes the child look like a giant!

Oh! I got one for him he didn't get for me! I guess that train will have a Christmas village too!

One of my favorite parts about this Christmas was Luana having her first ever Strode family Christmas. She was so grateful and amazed that she had been treated as one of the family and said she had never received so many gifts. I would be lying if I said there were no tears of joy on this morning.

Luggage for her mission and money to get her pass port ready 

Paige had asked us months before about 50 times day if we would take her to Milan to see the 21 pilots concert. My response was always the same: Ask dad

So I was shocked when she never mentioned Green day (Her most favorite band) coming to Milan in January. Well I think it was her most favorite present of all and she did mention about an hour later that her stomach still hurt from how excited she was!

Our favorite time of the day was when Logan and Parker called in and we chatted and talked about some fun Christmas presents they got (hmmm.. a trip to Italy this summer) And then Tori chimed into our call and we were able to have a three way call for about an hour where we laughed our heads off and made faces at each other and talked about how soon Tori will be home and about her fun times and then we suggested singing a song together (I thought christmas...) Dan picked once there was a snow man and that seemed about right!

Best tie ever!

Seth received a life time supply of Franks Buffalo sauce that will likely be gone by the end of the year. Look at his face enjoying that smell!

This years Birthday cake for Jesus was brought home by our newest family member and it looks just like the stable and tasted like alcohol like all Italian cakes do!

It was a sweet, happy Christmas!